Another bill comes to Senate for Brodkorb's legal case

The Minnesota Senate is preparing to pay another bill for its legal defense in the case of ex-Senate employee Michael Brodkorb.

The Senate has already paid private attorneys more than $190,000 to handle the case. The latest bill, the first Democrats will approve since taking over the Senate this year, adds only another $6,000 to the tally.

Much of this year, attorneys have been waiting for a judge to make a ruling so the costs have not escalated very quickly.

Brodkorb was fired in 2011 after he had an affair with then Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo.

Last year, Brodkorb sued the Senate, claiming among other things that female legislative staffers had affairs and were allowed to keep their jobs. Earlier this week, a court restricting Brodkorb's case to just that discrimination claim.

Senate officials say they did nothing wrong and that Brodkorb was an "at-will" employee who could be legally fired at any time.

The Senate rules committee plans to meet on Monday to approve the latest bill. Although Democrats took over control of the Senate from Republicans this year, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk has said he plans to keep the same attorney that the Republican picked to do the work.

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."